What do your Orcs look like?

[Nomad4life]

My orcs look like Wil Wheaton clones.

Just kidding.

I imagine them as beastly misshapen humanoids, each a little different from the next.

I will say, though, that my concept of “orc” changes from year to year more than any other entity in the D&D world. Who knows how I’ll think of them five years from now?

 

[Dragonbait]

Da boyz are green skinned, large jaws, big tusks - Warhammer (and thus, Warcraft) orcs. 3E orcs mostly fit the bill, but are hary and gray instead of green. My orcs carry orc choppas, stikkas, and arrerz too
As for goblinoids - Goblins are small, green, and have pointed ears and pointed noses (Warhammer or LoTR goblin/orcs). Hobgoblins flip-flop between D&D hobgobs and the Warhammer (green, taller, a little more human-like goblins) hobgoblins.

 

[Shadowslayer]

My orcs are all over the board. Their skiin ranges from grey to green depending on the particular Orc's origin. (usually grey) Otherwise, they pretty much follow the LOTR movie Orcs, except more tusky.

More intelligent ones have a culture similar to Klingons...savage and evil, but ordered and honorable. But there's lots of mindless savage type ones around too.

Also, for my games, Orcs, Hobs, Goblins and Bugbears are all just different sizes of Orcs. I find that a little more believable. The PCs rarely come across a group of just plain Orcs, all with the same weapons, armor and hit dice.

 

[evildm]

Warcraft Orcs. They were really the first orcs I was exposed to, so they've always been the definitive orc appearance, in my mind.

 

[The_Gneech]

My orcs tend to be pretty close to the LotR movie orcs, and are a goblinoid race.

Goblins = Moria orcs
Orcs = Mordor orcs
Hobgoblins = Uruk-hai

The only difference is they're a little more bestial, but not much.

-The Gneech

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

My orcs look like they were drawn by Russ Nicholson, as shown best in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

 

[WayneLigon]

I've always made them look much like the LOTR movie orcs; savage beastman-like things. Never, not even once, were they ever 'swine-like'.

 

[FolcoTook]

My orcs are modeled after the Uruk-Hai as depicted in the LotR movies.

My goblins are modeled after the goblin/orcs in the LotR movies.

-FT

 

[Dog Moon]

Ooooo, another year and a half old thread.

I got rid of Orcs. Orcs don't exist in my campaign. I don't really have anything to replace them either, which is fine by me.

 

[Keldryn]

The physical appearance of Orcs in my world was inspired (long ago) by the artwork on the cover of Dragon Magazine #127; three Orcish warriors (in vaguely Eastern-ish armour) making a last stand in a battle with Elves. Even back in 1e and 2e, I was tending to use Orcs as major antagonists throughout the campaign, giving most of them levels in Fighter.

With the change to 3E, I've kept Orcs as being Lawful Evil in alignment. I didn't really care for the Chaotic Evilfication of Orcs in 3E. I prefer to keep the number of intelligent species in my world manageable, and I've trimmed down the humanoid races somewhat. I didn't really see the point in having both Orcs and Hobgoblins, so the Hobs got the axe and Orcs fill their role. My Orcs have always had a strong sense of personal and familial honour, but have remained an aggressive and warlike (and sometimes brutal) race. The Orcish nation, and the race as a whole, probably tends more towards Lawful Neutral than Lawful Evil. Obviously, their favoured class is Fighter, rather than Barbarian (same with Half-Orcs).

I always thought this made for more interesting villains than a horde of bloodthirsty, barbaric savages. Besides, that's what demons are for.